A Welsh woman whose preborn child was diagnosed with Down syndrome has spoken out about her treatment, saying she was given more information about having an abortion than she was about caring for her son.
Key Takeaways:
- Leanne Constable found out her son would have Down syndrome at 16 weeks pregnant and was regularly pressured to abort afterward.
- Constable’s son was later born healthy and happy.
- Abortion is currently not permitted past 24 weeks in the United Kingdom (UK), unless the preborn child has been diagnosed with any disability — with eugenic abortions permitted through all nine months of pregnancy.
The Details:
Constable told Wales Online that after being given the prenatal diagnosis, medical staff gave her more information about abortion than about Down syndrome itself. According to Constable, one consultant even told her, “Babies with Down’s are never healthy and you’ll be lucky if he achieves much.”
Already the mother to three other children, Constable was traumatized, and insisted on notes being placed in her medical record telling staff not to bring up abortion at her appointments.
“I didn’t really know anything about Down’s,” she recalled of the phone call informing her of the diagnosis. “I had seen people with it but had no personal connection and had an outdated version of what it means. I was worried that people with Down’s were institutionalised. My biggest concern was that he would not have a good life and that he would be bullied. Termination never entered my head but on the same phone call they suggested termination. I felt awful.”
Afterwards, she said they wanted her to get an amniocentesis to confirm their suspicions, and she told them no – she would not make the decision to abort her child. Meanwhile, she had to do all the research on her own to educate herself about Down syndrome.
“There is more help in terms of termination than keeping a baby with Down’s. That feels wrong. I felt all the way through my pregnancy that the obstetricians always asked why I didn’t have an amnio. I had to have it put in my notes: ‘Do not discuss termination,'” she said, adding that an OB/GYN told her at 20 weeks, “Down’s syndrome children are never healthy.”
She said her midwives were similarly negative, and her entire pregnancy experience was ruined. Today, her son is doing well. “Parker is the most loving little boy you’ll ever meet,” she said. “He has a cheeky little personality. He’s funny and determined and doesn’t give up. It makes your heart burst.”
She has since set up an Instagram page for Parker.
“I decided that because I had had such a negative experience with doctors I wanted to show parents a real life of a person with Down’s and the joy and love. I am not saying there are not hard days, but you can have that with any child. Having one less chromosome does not mean he is worth less,” she said, adding, “I wanted to show that different is beautiful. Parker is beautiful. He’s made me a better person. A good life is about being with family and not just about what you can achieve.”
The Big Picture:
The United Kingdom (UK), of which Wales is a part, has blatantly discriminatory laws regarding abortion. Abortion is not permitted past 24 weeks pregnancy there, unless the preborn child has any diagnosed disability — even one as minor as a cleft lip — and then the mother can have her child killed. As prenatal testing has increased, so, too, have eugenic abortions.
Efforts have been made to get rid of this exception, but they have routinely failed.
MP Sir Liam Fox introduced a bill earlier this year that would have removed the exception allowing abortion up to birth for babies with Down syndrome, but it went nowhere.
Heidi Crowter, a woman with Down syndrome, has been fighting in the courts to end discriminatory abortions, but to no avail. She has vowed to continue fighting on.
“The fight is not over,” she said. “We face discrimination every day in schools, in the workplace and in society. Thanks to the verdict, the judges have upheld discrimination in the womb too… [W]hen the going got tough, he kept going, and I’m going to do the same, because I want to succeed in changing the law to stop babies like me being aborted up to birth, because it’s downright discrimination. I’m not giving up, let’s do this.”
